Collected
by MystiqueAphrodite
Summary: Billions of years ago, a rock deriving from planet Shinte hits Earth, giving all people on our planet powers but it faded away on all the men and a few women, leaving only a few women with it in their blood. In the present day, young Arianna starts noticing things towards her 18th birthday and meets Kaden, an unknown alien. She is forced to become a warrior in an alien invasion.
1. A Beginning

Prologue

All I wanted my entire life was to be normal.

To be like everyone else. To learn to drive, graduate, become a designer, just to be normal but I guess it's not my life to choose, not mine at all.

"Gah!" I smack the screeching alarm clock that has been blasting in my ear for the past few minutes and roll off the edge of my bed. Today was my first day as a senior in high school and I was not looking forward to it. All throughout the summer, I was a nervous wreck, wanting to spend as much time with my friends before we took one step closer to going to college. I spit out my hair that somehow managed to get into my mouth and swiftly get up. I run into the bathroom before my siblings can. I quickly shower, blow dry my hair and change into sweatpants and a t-shirt. I look in the mirror to check to see if I look fine. I'm the kind of girl who is unusually pretty when my parents are considered normal. My long auburn hair is hanging in waves around my shoulders, with murky green colored eyes looking straight at me and a few freckles splattered on my nose. Deciding I look fine I rush out the bathroom smacking straight into my older 19-year sister, Jackie. Jackie is leaving for university soon in North Carolina, where I hardly would be able to see her. She looks annoyed. "Geez Arianna, what took you so long?" she sneers. I sigh. If I said I wished I were an only child I would be lying, even though I don't have the ideal kind of sisters, I still love them to death. Jackie looks a lot like me, except she has dark brown chocolate eyes, and regular brown hair cut into a stylish bob. "I was only in the bathroom for a few minutes okay? Don't annoy me today!". I walk past her and hear her slam the bathroom door in return. I grab my jacket from my room along with my backpack and head downstairs, running my hands on the clean pearl white wall.

My mother is already in the kitchen making breakfast and my father is sitting at our wooden dining table with a newspaper in hand, drinking coffee. He looks up for a second and murmurs, "Good morning". "Morning mom!" I chirp while grabbing a few pancakes off the large silver platter on the table. "Morning Ria, want me to drop you off at school today?" she asks lifting her head to look at me. "Sorry, but I can't mom. I already promised Rachel I would walk with her to school," I say. "Fine, I have to get going anyway." She looks at her silver encrusted watch my dad gave her for her birthday. "Dan, I'm leaving now, don't forget to call the landscape inspector. I need the tree in the front yard cut down, bye Ria," she says and gives me a quick peck on the cheek before grabbing her keys off the counter and rushing out the front door. Jasmine, my twin sister (we're fraternal) skips downstairs. She brushes past me and grabs a banana. "That's all you're going to eat?" I question her. Ever since last year when kids always commented on how chubby my sister was, Jas decided to go on a diet, losing many pounds over the weeks. She also got a huge makeover and looks like an entirely different person. "You know mom just made chocolate chip pancakes." She shakes her head, "No, I'm ok." I shrug, "Suit yourself." When the doorbell rings, I'm jogging toward the front door and swinging it open. Rachel stands there with a huge smile on her face. We squeeze each other tightly in a hug and then we part so she can get a good look at me. "Oh my goodness, you look great!" she squeals. I laugh, "I'm only wearing gym clothes, how can I look good in this?" She rolls her eyes, "If only I had your looks, I would look great in anything." I scan her up and down from her french braid with dark red highlights she got over the summer, to her black chunky heels that she got from her aunt in Paris. "You look amazing as well," I compliment back.

All of a sudden the front door smacks open and both of my sisters come rushing out. Jackie rushes into her own car and pulls away. Jasmine just stands there quietly and gives a little wave to Rachel. "Come on," I say pulling both her and Rachel by the arm and heading in the direction towards the school. Rachel talks non-stop all the way to the school while Jasmine stays quiet, but as soon as we pull into the parking lot she gapes, her mouth hanging wide open, I can understand why. The high school was renovated over the summer, it's huge. We walk through the double doors to feel the A/C blasted in our faces. Sleek white marble floors and sophisticated spotless gray walls greet us as we walk further into the school. The school looks so different as we continue to walk down the halls. We stop in the office to grab our schedules, I'm about to head out and turn around when I bump into someone. "Sorry," says a deep voice. I look up to see myself staring into a pair of radiant emerald green eyes. I'm in a trance and don't notice Rachel moved right by my side. "Hi, I'm Rachel but people call me Rae!" she holds out a hand for the guy to shake. He doesn't even spare her as much as a glance but instead continues to stare at me. I feel self-conscious, wondering if I had any crumbs leftover from breakfast on my face. "Ouch!" I yelp. I glare at Rachel, rubbing my arm, wondering why she elbowed me. "That hurt!" I groan still rubbing my arm. She clears her throat and glances at Mr. Emerald who still happens to be staring at me. "Say something!" she hisses at me. "Oh!" I wake up, free of my trance and get a good look at the guy in front of me. He has olive skin that looks entirely to smooth. Saying he's tall is an understatement, he looms right over me like a tower and he's of a muscular build. When I look at his face I see bits of stubble on his straight square chin. He has high cheekbones and no trace of a blemish on his face. All of a sudden those dark, peach-colored lips lift into a smirk. I flush, all too aware that I was the one 'staring' now. I clear my throat and hold out my hand, "Uhm hi, I'm Arianna?". I notice that this comes out as a question as well as my voice is a loud, high pitched squeak. I try again, "I'm Arianna but people call me Ria." "That's better," I thought. He grabs my hand but doesn't introduce himself. "Guess I'll have to hint it to him," I mutter to Rachel, "And you are?". He blinks and then finally responds, "Kaden."

Rachel tapped me on the shoulder, "We're going to be late!". She turned to Kaden, "Sorry but we have to get going." she said apologetically. "See you around?" she asked, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. All Kaden does is nod and walk away. As soon as he was out of earshot I turn to Rachel and hiss, "He was extremely rude! He didn't even spare a glance at you and stared at me like a creeper!" Rachel just chuckled, "He's new and doesn't know anyone. I'm sure he'll be really lively and talkative when he gets into his comfort zone." We walk down the hallway to our lockers. "My locker is all the way on the opposite side of the school but I'll catch you later during study hall, MK?". I give Rachel a half-hearted wave and watch her as she walks down the hall until she turns a corner. "I'll see you later ok?" I say to Jasmine giving her a hug. She nods and walks the direction Rachel did to her locker. I bend down to open my locker and stuff my backpack and books inside in a rushed manner. "Excuse me," grumbles an all too familiar voice behind me. I groan and slowly turn around to see Kaden with an amused expression on his face. "Already got under your skin?" he adds a smirk to this.

I avoid his luminous eyes and mutter, "Excuse me." I sprint down the hall to distance myself away from him as much as possible. I walk into my first class and take a seat all the way in the back, so I don't have to listen to the teacher blabber on about who-knows-what? I'm texting Rachel while I'm waiting for class to start, when a soft and faint voice asks, "Can I sit by you?" I look up to see myself looking at a copy of myself. The girl has hair an exact shade of mine but cropped shoulder-length and green eyes just as radiant. She's dressed in black from head to toe. Her black skinny jeans give an outline of her small waist. "Sure," I say. I'm still kind of freaked out about that coincidence that we still look so alike but I let it go as she slides into the seat next to me. "I'm Mira," she says quickly, looking at me with a hopeful expression. "Ria," I reply just as quickly, in order to dismiss her. I turn back to my phone hoping she gets the memo but she continues talking, "I just moved here from Arizona, my family moved because something weird happened." she lowers her voice when she says it. I look up at this part, partly because I was bored and partly because something inside of me was intrigued. She nodded solemnly, "I was walking to school studying earthquakes for a test coming up.

I was repeating words over and over in my mind to memorize it when the word earthquake rolled off my tongue and the ground started to shake. I was so tired after that, that I fainted on the ground and slept the entire school day." she shook her head, "It happened another time too. There were no clouds in the sky so I wished it would rain, then big gray clouds rushed into the sky and it rained. I told my parents but I don't think they believed me. I'm pretty sure we only moved from Arizona to get a fresh start for me and to move away from the craziness." she said with a sigh. Her face kept twitching, her mouth lifting in one corner. All of a sudden she burst out laughing, "I so got your attention, how gullible!" I just look at her, my mouth shaped in an O, "So it didn't happen?" "Oh no, it did but I'm pretty sure those were just coincidences as if I had the power to do that!" she chuckled. I was about to give her a piece of my mind about wasting my time when the bell ringed.

I turn around in my seat to see someone has taken the seat in front of me, a very tall familiar figure. I sigh in exasperation. Kaden seemed to have heard the sigh and turns around smirking. "Sigh all you want Rianna but I'm not going anywhere." I flinch, "Please don't call me that." Memories rush through my mind at a rapid speed. I feel tears spring to my eyes. "Why?" he says teasing. He seems to wait for a minute before adding, "Rianna." I jump out of my seat just as the teacher walks in and run towards the bathroom. I know, I know, you think I am a pathetically, overdramatic teenager, but too many bad memories are associated with that name. I shut the stall door behind me and sink to the floor, head in my hands.

The tears I was afraid to let out before run down my cheeks without my permission. For a moment I think I catch the drift of her perfume, smell the scent of her hair always dusted with rosebuds but then just as quick as it was there, it leaves. Knocks on the door interrupted my thoughts. "What?" I say trying to keep the sadness out of my voice. "Open the door Ria!" says a familiar voice. I continue to sit on the floor ignoring Kaden. "Please?" he adds, in a soft voice. Sighing loudly I unlock the door. "Why are you in the girl's bathroom?" I ask with a bit of a teasing tone to my voice, but his face stays serious, "I'm sorry," he says. My face drops back again. "What did I do wrong?" he asks. I feel my face getting heated. "You say you're sorry, but you don't know what for?!" I yell in his face. I know I'm overreacting, but I feel so tired and upset. The memories I kept bottled up in the smallest corner of my mind comes rushing back to me. I walk past him bumping into his shoulder on my way out. I return to the classroom and take a seat. Kaden soon walks into the classroom. He tries to catch my eye but I stare ahead at the teacher. I meet Jasmine after school to walk home. "Can you believe we're almost seventeen?" Jasmine exclaims as we head home. Rachel rode the bus, so it was only Jasmine and I. I nod solemnly and continue walking.

Jasmine stops and stares at me, "What's wrong?" she asks, "you seem a bit off today." "I'm fine," I assure her. She seems to believe me and continues blabbering on about how excited she is. I find myself zoned out and look up into the sky, observing the swirls of blue and gray. I look into the horizon to see that far out over the ocean, the swirls of blue are spotted with little black dots. "Hey," I tap Jasmine on the shoulder, "What's that?" I ask her pointing towards the dots. Jasmine just shrugs and continues talking, while I try to focus my mind on what she's saying but for some reason, I can't. I don't know why but, I feel like something's not right. After walking into the house, I run upstairs into my room and flop onto my bed. I curl myself into a little ball and cry out all the tears that never escaped my eyes in the bathroom. I remember her soft but calloused fingers holding me when I was upset. I remember her lullabies and the way she would sing out by the sea weaving flowers into my hair. The rest of my family wasn't as close to my grandmother as I was. Mima and I spent every day all summer together, telling of stories and eating ice cream. I thought I would have her forever, that we had all the time in the world, I just never knew she could be taken away from me so fast.

I was named after my grandmother, Rianna, meaning 'goddess, great queen' and she truly was. A very wise woman who led others and was a kind soul. I miss her so much, I really do. I wasn't close to my grandmother because of her gentle ways but because we were connected down deep, farther than both of us even knew. I continued relaying memories and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep and had awoken to a very strange dream.


	2. Changes

The first week of school passed by in a blur. I had met many people and made lots of new friends, all of which seemed to like me enough. I hadn't seen Kaden much though, just catching glimpses of him on the school campus. "Ria!" I turned around in the direction of the voice to see Rachel zipping towards me. I hadn't seen her in days since she's been so busy entertaining her new friends. When she reaches me, she crushes me into a big hug. "I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" she exclaims. I'm about to respond when I hear a throat clearing. That's when I realize the tall guy behind Rachel. He had dirty blond hair, sky blue eyes, and a dazzling smile. "Oh sorry!" she giggles, "This is Ryan, he's the future captain of the football team!" He holds out his hand to shake mine. His grip is firm and he holds my hand a second longer before letting go. I'm sure my face turns a bright shade of cherry. "I'm Ria," I mutter quietly. He smiles before speaking in a deep, low voice. "A beautiful name for a gorgeous girl." I feel like I'm burning up. He laughs and I smile. I like his laugh. The bell rings overhead and students start stampeding through the halls. Ryan comes closer and bends down so he's at ear level. "I'll see you around Ria," he whispers, before getting swept into the crowd of students. I shake my head out of the stupor I had been in and start walking towards the stairs for calculus and that's when I see him. Kaden stares at me with such intensity, I swear he's staring through me, but the moment I blink he's gone and out of sight.

...

Another wave of nausea hits me, so I bend back over the toilet again. When I finished vomiting, I sit back on my heels and stare out into space in misery. In the middle of calculus, I had been feeling strange in the stomach, so I asked to go to the nurse. I had been walking towards the nurse's office when I felt something trying to make it's way up through my throat and sprinted towards the nearest restroom. The boy's restroom. A few boys had been in there and were greatly alarmed to see me slam open the door and rush into the nearest stall.

I hear someone burst through the restroom door on the other side of the stall. "Out!" I hear a voice demand. I groan inwardly. In response, I hear feet shuffling as all the boys in the bathroom exit. I hear a series of soft knocks on the stall door. "Ria, you ok?" Kaden asks softly. "Go away!" I groan, leaning back over the toilet again. "Open the stall door Ria. I'm here to help." "I don't need a knight in shining armor. I'm fine!" I wince, feeling a sharp pain in my head as if someone stabbed me with a knife. I realize that I can't sit in the bathroom forever and proceed to unlock the door. Kaden swings the door open the moment I unlock it, looking at me with a concerned look. I glare at him the best I can, hoping it's enough to make him back off, but it does the opposite. He reaches his hand out to my head and feels with the back of it. "What? So now you're a doctor?" I snap, realizing my behavior is irrational because Kaden only wants to help. Instead of responding, Kaden steps closer to me, and with the blink of an eye, has me on his back. I wiggle, I squirm, I even try wrestling myself free, but Kaden's grip on me is strong. "Stop Kaden!" I screech. He stares sideways at me with those murky eyes holding me captive. "Just trust me Ria. I'm going to take you home." For some bizarre reason, I trust him and simply rest my head on his back, listening to the small thud of his heart. He swiftly moves out of the restroom into the hallway. We take the back exit out of the school and walk towards his car, a gorgeous Raven in color Ford Mustang. He lifts me up into the passenger seat and clicks the seatbelt in after me before shutting the car door. A second later he's on the other side and shuts his door. After buckling himself in he starts the engine and shifts into reverse before zipping out of the parking lot. I take a moment to study him, watching the focused and determined look in his eyes as he looks ahead at the road. His jaw is clenched and the tension in the air is so thick, I can barely breathe. As if he feels my gaze on him, he turns and faces me, then smirks. I groan again, this time out loud. "What?" he asks, looking adorably confused, but then the confusion turns into a look of concernment. "Are you going to vomit again? You look terrible." I barked out a harsh laugh, "Thanks." "I'm serious Ria, you don't look well," he says, then looks forward, eyes on the road. "I'm fine Kaden," is all I say before leaning my head against the headrest and drifting my eyes close. I swear that even in my semi-conscious state I heard Kaden whisper, "You will be soon enough."

...

When my eyes flutter open, the first thing I see is my sister Jasmine bending over me, staring at me. "Creep," I mutter. She just laughs and stands up straight. "Your head is burning up. I don't even see how you would have been able to make it home in this state." I roll over so I can see her fully. "Kaden took me." "Kaden!?" she asks with a bewildered look, "Sure..." "I'm serious! He drove me home!" "We are talking about the tall, mysterious, emerald guy, right?" I laugh, "Yes, we are." She shakes her head, "You told him where we live?!" That's when it hit me, I never told Kaden where we lived so how did he get me home? How did he get into the house!? "It's fine Ria. God, you look terrible. You need anything?" I shake my head in response, "I'm fine, just tired." I yawn and lay my head back onto the pillow as she quietly exits the room. I close my eyes, but I can't sleep. I growl in frustration and jump out of bed, wobbling to the bathroom. How terrible do I look is what I want to know? I shut the bathroom door behind me and peer into the mirror. Shock hits me as I stand and look at myself. My skin is the color of white chalk, and my face is covered in blotches. My eyes look strange and they seem to be changing in color. My hair is stringy and limp. I touch my hand to my head, "Ouch!" My head feels like a furnace and sharp pains ring through it. I blindly stumble back to my room and fall onto my bed. What is happening to me? Why? I cry softly, the pain in my head growing. I feel pain all around, it won't go away, it won't stop.

It won't ever stop.


End file.
